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One of the challenges of the modern seeker is discovering what is their actual conscious experience apart from the ideas, attitudes, beliefs, opinions, and values that create a secondary conceptual and perceptual filter over their inner witness. The first thing the seeker must do is to differentiate the content that is arising in the mind and to recognize it. The thought things of ideas, beliefs, opinions, and values need to be identified for what they are—as you withdraw your attention from these cognitive layers of the mind, you are able to awaken as the conscious witness of mental content, and achieve mindfulness and conscious presence.

This article came out of a dialog I had with my Higher Self in two separate sittings. The first question and answer session drilled down on defining what are ideas, beliefs, attitudes, opinions, and values. The second session focused on the difference between facts, opinions, and conscious experience.

Here’s the dialog:

Q: What’s the difference between on idea and a belief?

A: An idea is an image that encapsulates meaning. It combines visual models, verbal statements, and a written explication that describes and supports the idea.

A belief is an internalized verbal statement that:

Makes a judgment about truth or falsity of an idea

Give arguments why something is true or false

Stores information related to the belief that reifies the contention why the statement is true or false

Q: How is an opinion different than a belief?

A: An opinion is a belief you express verbally—you state your belief aloud or communicate it through writing.

Q: How is belief different than attitude?

A: Attitude is the physical and emotional expression of a belief. What you believe often becomes charged with emotions, and shows up as certain facial expressions or postures that communicate the belief non-verbally. For example, people who are self-righteous—who believe they know the final and absolute truth, based of their reading of a scripture or other authoritative book—will hold their body in a certain way; and they’ll express their beliefs arrogantly and condescendingly.

Q: How is a belief different than a value?

A: Values assign rules or standards for making judgments. Values commonly condition beliefs. For example, if you hold a value that sex outside of marriage is wrong—if you believe in that value, you will affirm it, and you will attempt to act in consonance with that value. When your behavior matches your values, you will experience integrity; if you act counter to that value, you will experience inner conflict.

Q: What is a fact?

A: A fact is something that our senses and reason determine are objective reality—something that exists whether we believe it exists or not. Facts are objects you can detect through your senses or instrumentation: for example, you can extend your physical senses to view extremely tiny objects through a microscope.

Facts are measureable.

Multiple witnesses can verify them.

They exist at a specific location in the physical universe.

They can be observed at a specific time.

They are documented through written accounts or photographic, audio, or video recording.

The person experiencing the fact has intact and normal sensory, perceptual, and cognitive functioning—for example, a person under the influence of a hallucinogenic drug could not be said to demonstrate intact and normal sensory, perceptual, and cognitive functioning.

It can be represented as data that can be analyzed, calculated, computed, and communicated to others.

Q: In our modern contentious political environment in the United States, there seems to be a discounting of facts based on beliefs in a certain political ideology. Factual reporting of statements of witnesses is labeled fake news. Facts are ignored or cherry picked to support a particular agenda. Facts are discredited if they do not agree with political or religious orthodoxy. What creates this phenomenon?

A: The facts are what they are—regardless of whether someone chooses to consider them or not. Science attempts to uncover facts and verify they whether their hypotheses about these facts are accurate.

On the other hand, these political actors hold strong beliefs that support their values, which they express as opinions. These values and beliefs are primary; they will cling to their beliefs even if the facts do not support them.

Opinions appear to operate in several ways:

You form opinions about what facts mean, and what they imply.

You decide whether a fact is real, or whether it is an artifact or optical illusion.

If you have political or religious beliefs, you may decide not only if the fact is real, but also if it is right or wrong, or if it is good or evil.

You may decide whether a fact is relevant, or whether it can be ignored. For example, a biochemist detects glucose in a cell, when he is searching for the presence of a specific protein. He may note the glucose is there, but he will ignore it, because it is not relevant the protein he is seeking.

You decide if a fact fits into mental category, schema, or classification, or not. You decide whether a fact should be included in a discussion of a topic or not, or whether or not it is germane to a dialog you are having.

You decide if a fact fits into an ideological, political, or religious belief system’s doctrine or not.

You decide whether a fact is important to you personally or spiritually, and whether or not you need to take action.

Typically, opinion type 6 heavily influences these political actors. Their doctrine is primary, and they reject any facts that do not fit in with it. This system of beliefs filters their perception, and forms a mindset through which they view reality.

These perceptual filters, or mindsets, operate in most people. These mindsets may not be founded upon political or religious beliefs, but they do lock people into a particular perception about what is possible and who they can become in the future.

Q: How is it possible to become conscious? It seems most people are completely entrenched in their mindsets and belief systems, so they cannot see any other viewpoint.

A: To become conscious, to become aware and mindful, you have to transcend the field of mindsets, of the nested array of values, beliefs, opinions, and ideas that form them, and collect your attention.

When you are established in conscious experience, you observe:

Your body position and movement in the present time

The environment around your body and become aware of what your senses are experiencing in the present time

The physiological activity of your body and your experience of your muscles, organs, and other tissues in the present time

Your feelings and emotional reactions in the present time

Your thoughts arising in the present time

The different identity states of the ego and the thoughts, feelings, actions and perspectives each identity state embodies

The memories that arise in response to different stimuli

As you go deeper in meditation, following the thread of consciousness to deeper strata of the mind, you eventually encounter the three immortal principles—the attentional principle, the spirit, and the Soul. When you reach these essences and come to identify with them, it shifts you out of the mindsets and belief systems that captured your attention. You wake up within. You experience that you are separate and independent from these gossamer palaces woven from belief and you are the conscious witness of all that occurs in the mind.

We encourage you to reflect deeply on these different elements of the cognitive strata of your mind, and learn to isolate your attention from the ceaseless cascade of thought things that separate you from your naked awareness that exists behind this river of thought. Then you can shift from being locked in the hypnotic absorption of mindsets and belief systems and become a conscious being.

Q: How are Mudrashram® meditation practices different than those I get from other groups?

A: Each group gives you tools appropriate for the job they do. Here are some examples:

A Wiccan or Occult group will show you how to unite with your Soul Spark and activate the upper Subtle Realm octave of will, which we call the Magical Will, to bring about manifestation and to protect against evil influences.

New Thought or New Age groups that operate on the Abstract Mind Plane and Psychic Realm give techniques that enable you to unite with the wave of the present time and your Higher Self, to process issues to completion, to activate the Soul’s power to manifest its transpersonal will, and to awaken your psychic abilities.

Jewish and Christian groups train you to commune with the Holy Spirit in the inner altar center of the Christ consciousness or Moon Soul nucleus of identity in the First Planetary Initiation. You learn to connect with God and listen to His guidance, and receive His blessings in your life.

I AM Movement groups lift your attention to unite with the Mighty I AM presence nucleus of identity in the Second Planetary Initiation, where you can activate the Omnific power of the spoken decree to manifest your intention.

Yogi Preceptor lineages teach you how to unite your attention with the cosmic consciousness nucleus of identity in the First Cosmic Initiation, and to transform this essence.

Light-Master-led groups reveal to you how to awaken the cosmic soul awareness nucleus of identity in the Second Cosmic Initiation and unfold it, while concurrently guiding the spirit on that segment of the Continuum to its origin.

Cosmic Masters awaken you to unite with your Astral Soul and progressively move this essence towards its source.

Supracosmic Gurus initiate the Supracosmic seed atom upon their Path and lead it progressively to unite with the form of the Divine that dwells in the Supracosmic brain chakra.

Transcendental Sphere Sat Gurus focus your attention on the spirit upon their Path, and lead this essence to its origin in the highest Plane at that level of the Continuum.

You will learn different techniques to achieve these varying objectives. These groups will train you to focus your attention on a different spiritual essence. In groups that teach you to transform your spiritual essence, you will learn different techniques for unfoldment.

We invite you to study about different approaches to spirituality and to identify one that resonates with your sense of truth. You may enjoy our “Study of Spiritual Paths” webinar series, which goes into greater depth into each of these perspectives. [You can access this webinar series under our Public Webinar category on this page.]

We welcome you to study with us if you feel our approach to spirituality seems right to you and matches the spiritual objectives you wish to achieve.

In our intermediate courses, the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program, we teach about the seven chords of Jnana Yoga, the octaves at which the Soul uses its innate intelligence and intuition. You can read about these seven chords of Jnana Yoga in our Library [you can get a free library membership here—if there are particular areas that interest you, please let us know on this page where you sign up for the Library.]

This intuitive thread, which has been called the Antakarana, stretches from the physical brain to the Soul. With each meditation, insight, and revelation, you activate this thread and build the Soul’s knowledge and wisdom.

At the core of this thread there are seven essential aspects of the Soul’s intuitive wisdom. These include:

Discernment – This enables your Soul to recognize its own nature and differentiate its essential nature from its vehicles of consciousness and the phenomena of the inner Planes. At the culmination of discernment, you gain Soul Realization of Gnosis. This faculty has also been called Viveka, or spiritual discrimination.

Mandalic reasoning – This faculty is anchored in the brain center of the Soul’s essential vehicle. It resembles a series of concentric circles (some perceive this center like concentric spheres) that mirror each stage of the Soul’s development—from the first nodal point of the Subtle Realm to your current state of spiritual evolution. Through mandalic reasoning, you can tap into the knowledge you have gained at each nodal point of the Path; you can also locate archetypes on different Planes that correspond with one another—this is the basis of the esoteric dictum, “As above, so below.”

Multi-dimensional knowledge – This allows you to plumb the energetic thread that connects each of your vehicles of consciousness, and to access the knowledge of each of those vehicles. This operates through the seed atom of each vehicle of consciousness; it permits you to plumb the content corresponding to any nodal point in any vehicle of consciousness. This inner coordinate system allows you to locate specific content in any vehicle and to bring it up. This has been referred to holographic knowledge.

Depth intuitive knowing – This enables you to know the identity state contained within each vehicle of consciousness, to declare it (e.g., the I AM declaration of Jesus in the Bible, “I am the bright and morning star”), and to empathically enter the experience of others. It is this faculty of intuitive connection that enables you to take the perspective of the Soul when you do healing, psychic readings, coaching, depth counseling or psychotherapy, or ministry.

Connections with the intellect – This expresses in seven ways; most people utilize one or more of these connections with the Soul’s illumined mind to receive and communicate the information they gather:

Visual-symbolic – This resembles a cascade of images or symbols that enter awareness in meditation. You need to reflect on each of these images to glean additional information about it.

Verbal intuitive – This inspired verbal guidance and inspiration speaks through you and you hear yourself speaking it. This has been called satsang, channeling, or prophecy—depending whether the source of the information comes from, respectively, your own Soul, another spiritual entity, or the Divine Spirit.

Silent thought reception – Here you receive guidance and direction through silent intuition. You hear the thoughts directed to you in your mind. This mode of transmission of guidance and information has been called telepathy. You commonly access this connection through asking questions to your Soul—we refer to this as the “tell me circuit.”

Visual thought reception – In this connection type, when you ask the Soul a question, it moves your attention within you to the level where you can directly experience the essence about which you are curious. So, for example, if you wanted to know what is the form of the Divine at the top of the Abstract Mind Plane, your Soul would guide your attention to the level of the Continuum where you actually would behold that Being. We refer to this as the “show me” circuit.

Behavioral guidance – Through this connection, you receive plans for sequences of action, blueprints for building something, or guidance for new behavior you have never practiced before. For example, this connection is activated in those who have a calling to build temples. We call this the “praxis circuit.”

Creative inspiration – This is a downpour of poetry, artistic images, or literary or dramatic dialog that you capture through your particular artistic gift. You sense that your Soul is expressing through you, and you put it down, for example, through writing it, painting it, recording it, or sculpting it.

Systemic view – This gives you the big picture of a system. We call this synthetic form of perception global intuitive perception. It enables you to view how all parts fit together into an integrated whole.

Integration – This alchemical process enables you to change elements of your unconscious mind into an aspect of consciousness that you can utilize. You access integration through a series of evocative techniques drawn from meditation, psychotherapy, and hypnosis. When this aspect is operating, you typically will be encountering and interacting with an element of your unconscious mind, and progressively changing it until it can be re-integrated into consciousness. This form of intelligence has been called synthesis or integrative reasoning.

Jnana Shakti – This is the innate energy of the Soul’s illumined mind that operates each of these six essential aspects of intuitive wisdom. This aspect is awakened during the sitting we give for Jnana Yoga in the Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and in the introductory session of the Mudrashram® Advanced Course in Meditation.

Each of the seven chords of the Soul’s intelligence and intuitive wisdom can be accessed through evocative questioning and attentional focusing techniques. You can learn about these methods in our intermediate and advanced meditation courses.

We encourage you to study the activity of each of these faculties of your Soul’s intuitive wisdom, and to learn methods to enhance their operation. This will enable to allow your Soul’s innate genius to flower and to have full expression in your life.

Many coaches, motivational speakers, meditation teachers, channelers, and sundry other New Age practitioners promise their clients “transformation” to achieve their dreams, to actualize their potential, and to make their “Ascension”—without truly understanding the full spectrum of potential personal and spiritual transformation.

In the Mudrashram® system of Integral meditation, we describe for poles of being. These poles are:

Pole one – The ensouling entity or Soul

Pole two – The individual spirit

Pole three – The spiritual forms or vehicles of consciousness that the Soul animates and controls, through which it expresses its love, wisdom, and ability—these are the higher aspects of spiritual emotion, intuition, and the aspects of transpersonal volition that operate in the Superconscious mind

Upper pole four – The attention and intentional consciousness (attentional principle) that witness human life and can commune with the other three poles of spirituality through meditation

Lower pole four – The matrix of human life that operates through the unconscious mind and the three mental fields that comprise the personality—the Conscious mind, the Subconscious mind, and the Metaconscious mind; the personal integration centers of the Self (Metaconscious mind) and the ego (Conscious mind) govern and direct these aspects of mind through the personal aspects of volition.

The modalities for transformation operate on one or more of these poles of being. Many of those who purport to offer transformation to their clients and meditation students are not aware that other types of transformation exist outside the type(s) that they have experienced and share with those they coach, counsel, and teach. It is important for those who seek to transform others—and those that believe transforming is something that they should do—to be aware of the entire spectrum of potential transformation. Here are eight major types:

Personal transformation – this changes aspects of your personality into something better than you experience now. This type of transformation takes place on lower pole four. These aspects are parts of you that you want to change, you believe change is possible, and you are willing to do whatever it takes to ensure this change happens. This change can take place at the level of:

Behavior – you learn new skills that enable you to do the things you want that you aren’t able to do right now.

Habits – you change habits that are unhealthful or unproductive into habits that support your health and optimize your productivity.

Attitude – you shift from holding a pessimistic, hopeless attitude to an optimistic and hopeful one.

Belief – you alter your beliefs about what is possible, so you believe that you can reach your goals and achieve your dreams.

Values – you identify what is truly important in your life, and you align your actions, speech and thinking to align with these core life priorities; you begin focusing on your priorities instead of doing things that waste time.

Perception – you modify your mindset about what you can do, be, and have as you change your perception of who you are and what you have the capacity to become.

Knowledge – you educate yourself to enable you to enter your chosen career and to enact your life purpose.

Choice – you make new choices and don’t let fear or worry hold you back from fully living your dreams.

Identity – you come to experience yourself as someone who is more empathic, skillful, competent, effective, courageous, and capable of delivering results.

Rebirth – you achieve rebirth through moving your attention and/or attentional principle into union with a spiritual essence—a nucleus of identity, spirit, or ensouling entity—and sustaining your union with this state until you fully identify with it and it begins to govern your values, beliefs, and behavior. This is the transformation typical of upper pole four. Once you become identified with this essence, you begin to direct your personality from this spiritual identity. This type of transformation is typical of

New Age aspirants who identify with the Star Seed on the Psychic Realm

“Born again Christians” and Jews affiliated with mystical sects who identify as the Moon Soul nucleus of identity

I AM Movement members who identify with the Mighty I AM Presence nucleus of identity within their Solar Angelic form

Disciples of Yogi Preceptors who identify with their cosmic consciousness nucleus of identity in the First Cosmic Initiation

Students of Light Masters who identity as the cosmic soul awareness nucleus of identity

Followers of Supracosmic Path Gurus, who identify with the Supracosmic seed atom of that Path

Devotees of Transcendental Path Sat Gurus, who identify with the spirit on that Transcendental Path

Superconscious integration center unfoldment – you produce transformation of a vehicular seed atom or nucleus of identity through practicing a transformational method that unfolds this essence. This is pole three transformation. This moves the vehicular seed atom or nucleus of identity out of alignment with the axis of being, and reinforces identification with this integration center of the Superconscious mind. Examples of this type of transformation include:

New Age aspirants who unfold the Star Seed on the Psychic Realm with the Merkaba method

Christians and Jews affiliated with mystical sects who unfold their Moon Soul nucleus of identity using specialized mantras or Kriya-Yoga-like methods

I AM Movement members who unfold Mighty I AM Presence nucleus of identity within their Solar Angelic form using specialized decrees

Disciples of Yogi Preceptors who unfold their cosmic consciousness nucleus of identity in the First Cosmic Initiation utilizing Kundalini Yoga, mantras, Kriya Yoga, and Light Immersion

Students of Light Masters unfold their cosmic soul awareness nucleus of identity using mantras and Light Immersion

Followers of Supracosmic Path Gurus, who unfold the Supracosmic seed atom of that Path through Kundalini Yoga, mantras, Kriya Yoga, and Light Immersion

Transformation generated through movement of the spirit – this practice is typical of Paths in the Transcendental Sphere, which drive transformation through having the spirit open the inner channels of the Nada. This is pole two transformation. Examples of this types of transformation is found on:

Transcendental Path One (T1) – Followers of Subud Masters open the channels of the Nada and receive Light Immersion to make progress on this Path and unfold their ensouling entity.

Transcendental Path Two (T2) – Disciples of Sant Mat Sat Gurus open the channels of the Nada and follow the inner guide form of their Master to make progress on this Path and unfold their ensouling entity.

Transcendental Path Three (T3) – Devotees of the Avatar and the five Perfect Masters open the channels of the Nada and receive Light Immersion to make progress on this Path and unfold their ensouling entity.

Transcendental Path Four (T4) – Those that Paradise Masters initiate open the channels of the Nada and receive Light Immersion to make progress on this Path and unfold their ensouling entity.

Transcendental Path Five (T5) – Chelas of ECK Masters (Mahantas) open the channels of the Nada and use specialized mantras to make progress on this Path and unfold their ensouling entity.

Transcendental Path Seven (T7) – Premies of the T7 Sat Guru open the four channels of the Nada on their Path and receive Light Immersion to make progress on this Path and unfold their ensouling entity.

Transformation of an ensouling entity with its associated vehicle of consciousness – These transformational practices move an ensouling entity along its track. This is pole one transformation.

Occult Adepts awaken the Kundalini to move the Soul Spark through the Subtle Realm and guide it to rise through the Occult Initiations.

Adepts and Adept Masters use Light Immersion to move the Soul and its vehicles and confer Planetary Initiation.

Agni Yoga Yogi Preceptors and Cosmic Masters bestow Light Immersion to translate the Astral Soul and activate its vehicles of consciousness; advanced forms of Kriya Yoga (Kaivalyam Kriya) or a specialized mantra (Cosmic Divine Name) are also used to selectively unfold the Astral Soul.

The Avatar and Perfect Masters on T3 employ Light Immersion to unfold the ensouling entity of this Path.

Coordinated transformation of selected spiritual essences though alignment with a template for transformation – This type of transformation is very rare: we have seen it applied in only one instance. This is mixed transformation of pole one and pole three at different bands of the Continuum of Consciousness. In the Risen Christ Yoga that my first spiritual teacher promulgated, he bestowed Light Immersion to unfold the Astral Soul, the God consciousness nucleus of identity, the Avataric consciousness nucleus of identity, the cosmic consciousness nucleus of identity—each Cosmic Sphere spiritual essences; the Monad (a higher octave ensouling entity of the Transplanetary Realm); and the Mighty I AM Presence nucleus of identity, the Moon Soul nucleus of identity, and the seed atom on the Psychic Realm in the Planetary Realm.

Integral transformation at one band of the Continuum of Consciousness – this is partial Integral transformation as it operates on one band of the Continuum only. It unfolds the ensouling entity (pole one), the spirit (pole two), and the essential vehicle of the Soul and its associated vehicles of consciousness (pole three), together with guiding the attentional principle into union with the Soul (upper pole four). We are aware that this is practiced in two instances:

Certain Adepts and Adept Masters use Light Immersion and Guru Kripa Yoga to unfold the Soul Spark and Soul in synchrony with the spirit, the vehicles of consciousness, and the attentional principle in the Subtle and Planetary bands of the Continuum.

Integral or Guru Kripa Yogi Preceptors use this same schema of balancing the four poles of the Astral Soul to guide Integral spiritual development during the First Cosmic Initiation.

Integral co-resonant development – This combines Integral transformation at the cutting edge of spirituality with simultaneous and synchronous unfoldment at each octave of being. This unfolds on all four poles of being, not only at the level of your spiritual growing tip, but also at each higher octave of being. This is the form of transformation that we teach in our intermediate meditation courses, the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program.

You can drive transformation through personal effort, using choice and commitment to effect personal transformation; you can also employ a transformational technique to produce spiritual transformation. Grace can also drive spiritual transformation through Light Immersion. Integral Light Immersion is called Guru Kripa Yoga.

Regular Guru Kripa Yoga operates at one level of the Continuum, and unfolds all four poles of being in synchrony. This is characteristic of transformation type seven.

Adi Guru Kripa Yoga unfolds all four poles of being in synchrony at each level of the Great Continuum of Consciousness—Subtle, Planetary, Transplanetary, Cosmic, Supracosmic, and Transcendental. This generates co-resonant development. This produces transformation type eight.

In addition to the tools to support personal transformation you learn in our intermediate meditation courses, our practical meditation training that our Introduction to Meditation instructors are authorized to teach provide additional tools for personal transformation. Our upcoming coaching modules will give you still more methods to work with your issues and transform them.

We invite you to study these different types of transformation and identify how you can generate personal and spiritual transformation that resonates with your inner sense of truth, and feels appropriate for your current stage of growth.

We point out that spiritual transformation types two through six, which work on only one pole of being or on multiple poles without promoting Integral synchronous spiritual development, commonly yield imbalances. We recommend that aspirants embrace Integral meditation strategies for optimal outcomes in their quest for spiritual progress, while avoiding the pitfalls of transformation methods emphasize spiritual development on only one pole.